Buying a home is a joyous occasion. Its a chance to celebrate your freedom from the trials and tribulations of the world of landlords and rentals. Its also a time to welcome you into a whole new world the world of roof leaks, broken windows, and sewers.
Thats right, your lovely new home comes with a lovely new sewer. The good news is that it'll keep you and your family clean and hygienic. The bad news is that its now your responsibility to maintain it. For the brand new homeowners and sewer newbies out there, here are some tips and tricks to get you started on your new and exciting journey:
1. Trees are your greatest enemy:
Not really, but they are a serious threat to your sewer lines. Root intrusion is one of the most common reasons for pipe or sewer repairs, and for that reason it is important that trees should be located more than 10 feet from sewer lines to minimize this risk.
2. Pay attention to the signs:
Be sure to get maintenance records of your sewers from the previous owner of your home so you can keep track of a proper repair schedules. You should be able to foresee certain problems before they even happen, in the same way as you can with a car. For instance, a sewer system should last about 40 years if its approaching that age, expect a lot of costly repairs.
3. There are other ways:
In your minds eye, you might picture a sewer repair as a messy, smelly repair that costs your the whole of your lawn and irreparable damage to any landscaping you might have been doing. Wipe that vision away there is another, much less painful way to go about it. In fact, trenchless sewer repairs have been around for about 15 years, but still most homeowners don't know much about it. With only two small access points on either side of the pipe, a plumbing professional is able to use something called a cured in place pipe, or CIPP, which is a joint-less, seamless, pipe-within-a-pipe which can rehabilitate pipes of many shapes and sizes.
So, in the end, having the responsibility of a sewer really isn't that bad as long as you're in the know!
